Keyno, MSUFCU & Visa launches pilot program for online payment security

By Pavithra R

Keyno, an online fraud prevention solution provider for credit & debit cards has announced a pilot program with Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) and Visa to help prevent card not present fraud.

Founded in 2019, Keyno is the maker of CVVkey technology that uses dynamic card verification value 2 (CVV2) code technology. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a surge in e-commerce with record growth rates across the globe as consumers increasingly shop online. But with the trend, fraud related to online and in-app purchases has also escalated.

MSUFCU will offer Keyno’s CVVkey product to selected members to use with their existing Visa credit cards for a 3 month pilot program through its recently launched innovation center, The Lab at MSUFCU. Once activated, cardholders can download and use the Keyno mobile app to obtain a dynamic CVV2 code for online and in-app purchases, rather than using the static 3-digit code on the back of their payment card. A new code will be generated every 6 hours on the app using the Visa dCVV2 Generate service so cardholders may be confident that their account numbers cannot be reused by online hackers even if stolen.

“Trust is the foundation of all businesses and it’s especially critical in digital commerce and payments. As buyers increasingly turn to digital payments, payment security remains an essential part of building brand trust and loyalty. This pilot program is an innovative approach to digital payments with an appeal to security-minded buyers, sellers, and issuers who want convenience without compromising security,” said Mary Kay Bowman, global head of Buyer and Seller Solutions at Visa.

Keyno’s CVVkey is available as a standalone branded/white-label mobile app or as a software developer kit (SDK) plug in to a credit union/bank’s mobile app. To implement the technology, first, the card-issuing FI signs up for the service to be enabled on a range of cards. Once enabled by Visa, the CU/bank can offer the technology as an option to its cardholders, to be quickly activated on their already-issued cards.

“I’m extremely proud that MSUFCU is the first financial institution to pilot this innovative technology that will benefit cardholders, merchants, credit unions, and banks. We have a long history with Visa, and we believe dynamic security codes are an easy-to-implement, smart e-commerce fraud prevention solution; we have had much success in our testing thus far. Keyno’s CVVkey is an effective technology that we can offer to our members quickly, at a time when preventing online fraud is so critically important,” said Benjamin Maxim, Assistant Vice President of Digital Strategy and Innovation at MSUFCU.